***
“That was such an amazing date,” Rachel said as they approached her front door, gravel crunching underfoot.
“I’m going to be completely honest with you,” he said, “because that went way better than I imagined.”
Rachel giggled and nodded. “Me too. I didn’t expect it to go badly mind you, but it certainly was far more wonderful than I could have hoped for.”
“I’m glad,” he said, stopping as they reached her doorway. Then, summoning up his courage as she reached into her purse for her keys, he spoke again. “Would you like to do it again?”
There was a moment of pause in the air as Rachel digested his words.
“Yes,” she said quietly, pausing in her search to look up at him. “Yes I would like that a lot.”
Hector managed to keep himself from pumping a fist in happiness, but it was a near thing. Rachel continued to try and find her keys while he stood there. A sudden thought came to him.
Am I supposed to try and kiss her? Is that what’s going on? Is that why she’s having so much trouble finding her keys?
His throat suddenly went dry. Hector wasn’t sure if that was the case, or if she truly was having a hard time finding them. What he did know, was that he very badly wished to kiss her. She had soft, active lips that always seemed to be moving to match the rest of her face, very expressive and lively.
Kissable, in fact.
Forcing himself to swallow around the lump in his throat, he moved closer.
“Having trouble?” he asked, wondering if it sounded as idiotic to her as it did to him.
“Uh, no, they’re just caught on something,” Rachel said, distracted.
Then she seemed to suddenly clue in to his closeness and the noise in her purse died as she slowly turned to face him. The air between them grew thick and heavy, making every action seem like he was trying to do it through water.
“I see,” he said, licking his lips nervously.
“Mm-hmm,” Rachel said, her mouth hanging just slightly open as she stared up at him.
He reached out and ran his fingers through her short soft pink hair before he could stop to think about it.
Rachel hissed and inhaled sharply at his touch, but she didn’t move away. If anything she swayed a little closer to him.
That was it. That was the opening he was looking for. Hector fortified his will and leaned in, while at the same time cupping the back of her head and pulling her gently toward him. Not hard enough to force her if she didn’t want to, and his hand remained ready to give way if she resisted.
But neither happened, and his lips covered hers without further thought. The shockwave that blasted through his body as they touched was completely unexpected, a rush of energy and electricity that seemed to bring every nerve ending to high alert. Rachel’s arms came up and wrapped around him, and he was suddenly acutely aware of each fingertip as they dug into his back muscle.
The warmth of air as it rushed out her nose while she melted into his embrace, a soft whimper or moan of delight escaping her throat, it all was amplified by his senses. It went on and on. At one point he split her lips with his tongue and felt the soft wet warmth of her mouth. That was enough to awaken his bear, and suddenly Hector knew he needed to pull back. Not because he wanted to, but because if he didn’t stop soon, he wouldn’t be able to.
So as gently as he could, he leaned away from her, breathing in deeply from the effort.
Rachel didn’t seem to object. As he watched she lifted a hand to her lips, touching them briefly, then her leafy, forest-green eyes widened as they looked up at him.
“Oh.” That was all she said, but it was enough.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Um, I should go now.”
“Okay.” She didn’t object, but she didn’t sound happy about it either.
“I’ll call you. We’ll set something up,” he breathed, his voice barely audible.
“Okay.” Rachel didn’t seem coherent enough to say anything more, not that he blamed her. Speaking in sentences was tough for him right then.
“Uh, bye.”
Hector would love to be able to say that he left calm and relaxed.
It would have been a lie.
He fled. Long strides carried him down to the gravel roadway, where he managed to wait until she got inside. Then he ran away. Quite literally. His feet pounded the ground as his superhuman strength accelerated him up to speeds no human could match, not even at a sprint. Gravel flew behind him in a little spray, marking his passageway.
Hector didn’t care. He approached the street that marked the unofficial outskirts of Cloud Lake, with houses on one side, and the complex of buildings belonging to the former Institute women on the other. A car was traveling along the road, but that didn’t slow Hector down. He simply jumped. With a big whoop of excitement and happiness he cleared the car and the road in a single bound and landed at a run, not bothering to slow down.
“SHE KISSED ME!” he bellowed into the night sky, setting up a chorus of howls from neighborhood dogs and shrieks of surprise as birds took to the skies to protest the sound.
Hector just grinned and ran all the way back to the embassy. The entire time, he didn’t stop smiling.